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Back The Cliff House Save as PDF
Chapters (64)
  1. Cover
  2. Booklist
  3. Title Page
  4. Praise
  5. Dedication
  6. Prologue
  7. CHAPTER ONE
  8. CHAPTER TWO
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. CHAPTER FOUR
  11. CHAPTER FIVE
  12. CHAPTER SIX
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. CHAPTER EIGHT
  15. CHAPTER NINE
  16. CHAPTER TEN
  17. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  18. CHAPTER TWELVE
  19. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  24. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  25. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  54. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  55. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  61. CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
  62. Epilogue
  63. Acknowledgements
  64. About the Publisher

She dropped to her knees. Shoved Max out of the way. Grabbed her boy around the shoulders and lifted him up to her. Pressed her lips against his cheek. Edie wailed in the background. Gareth shouted at Max demanding to know where the phone was. Tamsyn sobbed.

Jago’s eyes were open. They fixed on her. Dipped in and out of focus. She reached for his hand and held it. Her tears fell on his skin and she gently wiped them away with her thumb. He opened his mouth a fraction, but no words came out.

‘My lovely boy, you’re going to be okay,’ Angie whispered into his ear. ‘You can’t leave me. Do you hear me?’

She leant forward and rested her head on his. Clutched him tight to her. Closed her eyes.

As she did she heard another voice. Eleanor’s. Quietly crying. Words punctuating her sobs.

I didn’t mean to. I didn’t. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.

Later – she had no idea how long it had been – she felt hands on her. Strangers. Strong men easing her fingers from her son.

‘No!’ she shouted, smacking them away. ‘He’s my boy. He’s my boy.’

But the strangers spoke in firm voices. Told her she had to let them near him.

‘Mum,’ said Tamsyn’s voice beside her. ‘They need to look after him.’

And so she released him and sat back on her haunches. Tipped her head back. Circling birds above her. Black. Not gulls. Maybe choughs or maybe ravens. Rob would know.

Gareth was beside her then. ‘The police are here,’ he said.

‘He’s going to be all right, isn’t he?’ She raised her hand to him. He grasped it. Nodded mutely. Then he sat down beside her and rubbed her to keep her warm.

Angie remembered Tamsyn and looked for her. Seeing her standing a little away from them, she beckoned to her. But her daughter didn’t come. Instead she took hold of the tartan blanket, which someone – Max perhaps – had given her, and pulled it tighter around her shoulders.

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

Tamsyn

August 1986

Edie and Max stood nearby and talked in urgent whispers. Gareth sat with his arm around my mother. He seemed about to talk to me but the ambulance and police cars disturbed him as they screeched along the lane and pulled into the driveway.

I watched, numb, as for the second time that day one of the people I loved most in the world was lifted onto a stretcher. We followed as they carried him out to a waiting ambulance, its blue light turning silently like the lamp of a lighthouse.

‘I don’t want to go back to the hospital,’ I said, my voice barely audible.

Mum faced me. Her fingers twisted around each other. Her face was pale as snowdrops. ‘But I need you with me.’